scholarly journals Maternal health in resource-poor urban settings: how does women's autonomy influence the utilization of obstetric care services?

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Christophe Fotso ◽  
Alex C Ezeh ◽  
Hildah Essendi
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Health ◽  
Obstetric Care ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Urban Settings ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Resource Poor

scholarly journals Assessing the role of women’s autonomy and acceptability of intimate-partner violence in maternal health-care utilization in 63 low- and middle-income countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1580-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja Sripad ◽  
Charlotte E Warren ◽  
Michelle J Hindin ◽  
Mahesh Karra
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Antenatal Care ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Maternal Health Care ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
Maternal Health Care Utilization ◽  
Care Services

Abstract Background Our study investigates the associations between women’s autonomy and attitudes toward the acceptability of intimate-partner violence against women (IPVAW) and maternal health-care utilization outcomes. Methods We combine data from 113 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2003 and 2016, which give us a pooled sample of 765 169 mothers and 777 352 births from 63 countries. We generate composite scores of women’s autonomy (six-point scale with reference: no contribution) and acceptability of IPVAW (five-point scale with reference: no acceptance) and assess the associations between these measures and women’s use of antenatal care services and facility delivery in pooled and unique country samples. Results A change in a woman’s autonomy score from ‘no contribution to any decision-making domain’ (a composite autonomy score of 0) to ‘contribution to all decision-making domains’ (a score of 6) is associated with a 31.2% increase in her odds of delivering in a facility and a 42.4% increase in her odds of receiving at least eight antenatal care visits over the course of her pregnancy. In contrast, a change in a woman’s attitude towards acceptability of IPVAW from ‘IPVAW is not acceptable under any scenario’ (a score of 0) to ‘IPVAW is acceptable in all scenarios’ (a score of 5) is associated with an 8.9% decrease in her odds of delivering in a facility and a 20.3% decrease in her odds of receiving eight antenatal care visits. Conclusions Our findings suggest that strong and significant associations exist between autonomy, acceptability of IPVAW and utilization of maternal health-care services.

scholarly journals Women's autonomy and utilization of maternal health care services in rural Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Kamala Lamichhane
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Maternal Health Care ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Maternal Health Care Services

Nepal has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in South Asia although the situation is improving in recent days. One of the reasons for such a high mortality may be attributed to the under-utilization of modern maternal health services during pregnancy. This study has analyzed the relationship between women’s autonomy and the utilization of maternal health care services in order to explore some possible reasons for the under-utilization of the services. Data from the Nepal demographic and Health Survey, 2011 is used for the study. The analysis is based on 2374 married women aged 15-49 years who had given a live birth during three years preceding the survey. Women's household decision making power, control over use of earning and decision on using contraception have been used to explore the indicators of women's autonomy. Logistic regression is used to assess the net effect of several independent variables on two dependent variables (adequate antenatal care and institutional delivery) of maternal health care. Logistic regression analyses reveal that the utilization of both maternal health care services are related to women's autonomy as indicated by decision making power on own health care, large household purchases and control over earnings because financial sufficiency is must at that period. Women's’ decision-making power appears to be the most powerful predictors for increasing maternal health service utilization. The study results suggest that policy actions that increase women’s autonomy at home could be effective in helping assure good maternal health.

Women's autonomy and antenatal care utilization in Nepal: A study from Nepal demographic and health survey 2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-267
Author(s):  
Naba Raj Thapa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Wealth Quintile ◽  
Maternal Health Services ◽  
Demographic And Health Survey ◽  
Wife Beating ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Women's Autonomy

Nepal has made remarkable progress in reduction of maternal mortality but utilization of maternal health services is below the acceptance level. This study seeks to examine the effect of women's autonomy on the utilization ANC services in Nepal. Data is taken from the 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. A total of 3,998 women age 15-49 who had given birth in the 5 year preceding the survey. Logistic regression analysis is performed to examine the effects of women's autonomy on the use of ANC. The results of Model I revealed that women's decision making autonomy and attitudes towards wife beating are significantly associated with at least four ANC visits. When women's autonomy variables and other socio-demographic variables are taken into consideration, women decision making autonomy and attitudes towards wife beating are not significant association with at least four ANC visits. To improve maternal health care, the interventions are needed to target women of low autonomy, less educated and from low wealth quintile.

scholarly journals Male Involvement in Maternal Health Planning Key to Utilization of Skilled Birth Services in Malindi Subcounty, Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian Nyamusi Nyandieka ◽  
Mercy Karimi Njeru ◽  
Zipporah Ng’ang’a ◽  
Elizabeth Echoka ◽  
Yeri Kombe
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Planning ◽  
Emergency Obstetric Care ◽  
Obstetric Care ◽  
Male Involvement ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Place Of Birth ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Setting Process

Background.In Malindi, rural populations face challenges in accessing skilled birth services. Consequently, the majority of women deliver at home and only seek help when they have complications. This paper reports part findings from a study conducted to assess health priority setting process and its implication on availability, access, and use of emergency obstetric care services in Malindi.Methods. The study utilized qualitative methods to collect data from health personnel and maternal health stakeholders including community members. Source and method triangulation was used to strengthen the credibility of study findings. Data was categorized manually into themes around issues relating to utilization of skilled birth services discussed in this paper.Findings. Various barriers to utilization of skilled birth services were cited. However, most were linked tomwenye(the husband) who decides on the place of birth for the wife.Conclusion.Husbands are very influential in regard to decisions on skilled birth service utilization in this community. Their lack of involvement in maternal health planning may contribute as a barrier to utilization of skilled care by pregnant women. There is need to address themwenyefactor in an attempt to mitigate some of the barriers cited for nonutilization of skilled birth services.

scholarly journals Construction and Validation of a Women’s Autonomy Measurement Scale with Reference to Utilization of Maternal Health Care Services in Nepal

1970 ◽  
Vol 52 (195) ◽  
pp. 925-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tulsi Ram Bhandari ◽  
Ganesh Dangal ◽  
P Shankara Sharma ◽  
V Raman Kutty
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Maternal Health Care ◽  
Measurement Scale ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Five Factors

Introduction: Women’s autonomy is one of the predictors of maternal health care service utilization. This study aimed to construct and validate a scale for measuring women’s autonomy with relevance to developing countries. Methods: We conducted a study for construction and validation of a scale in Rupandehi and further validated in Kapilvastu districts of Nepal. Initially, we administered a 24-item preliminary scale and finalized a 23-item scale using psychometric tests. After defining the construct of women’s autonomy, we pooled 194 items and selected 24 items to develop a preliminary scale. The scale development process followed different steps i.e. definition of construct, generation of items pool, pretesting, analysis of psychometric test and further validation. Results: The new scale was strongly supported by Cronbach’s Alpha value (0.84), test-retest Pearson correlation (0.87), average content validity ratio (0.8) and overall agreement- Kappa value of the items (0.83) whereas all values were found satisfactory. From factor analysis, we selected 23 items for the final scale which show good convergent and discriminant validity. From preliminary draft, we removed one item; the remaining 23 items were loaded in five factors. All five factors had single loading items by suppressing absolute coefficient value less than 0.45 and average coefficient was more than 0.60 of each factor. Similarly, the factors and loaded items had good convergent and discriminant validity which further showed strong measurement capacity of the scale.   Conclusions: The new scale is a reliable tool for assessing women’s autonomy in developing countries. We recommend for further use and validation of the scale for ensuring the measurement capacity. Keywords: maternal health care; scale construction and validation; women’s autonomy measurement.

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